Stopping the Unstoppable
by writerzero
Summary: When Kim and Drakken are injured it is up to Ron and Shego to stop an unstoppable force. Will Shego plasma fry Ron? Will Ron go all Zorpoxy and feed Shego to the Sharks? 9 out of 10 sharks vote yes to this! Main characters are Ron and Shego. Not RONGO.


**I do NOT own Kim Possible**

This story is situated around four months after 'So the Drama'.

**Prologue**

Other than the occasional beep that interrupted the soft whirling sounds coming from an array of medical devices an uncomfortable silence filled the hospital room. On the hospital bed, surrounded by those machines the redhead kept her eyes closed, feigning sleep. Ron watched one of the devices as it kept track of her pulse. Ninety-three beats per minute. _Way too high for a trained athlete like Kim, _he thought. He studied his ex-girlfriend closely, wondering what she was thinking. He didn't bother to ask. They weren't that close any more and he preferred the silence, uncomfortable or not, to speaking to her. Now they were nothing more than friends, not best friends or even close friends, just friends.

Ron left out a sigh and stretched some. He looked around the room. Whatever their status was he was the only one in the room visiting her. Her father had taken the twins on a trip to attend a conference on rocket science in Houston. He was frantically trying to book a flight back. Her mother had had an emergency call at the same time Kim had been admitted. An accident involving one of the higher ranking political officials in the US had required her, as one of the world's top ranking brain surgeons, to rush to Boston. And as for her current boyfriend Josh, well he had had an art show to put on. Ron didn't think much of the last one - going to an art show when your girlfriend had had a two-inch hole punched clear through her chest.

He wondered what Kim saw in the artist. Certainly he had better looks than Ron. Certainly he seemed to be going places while Ron seemed to be just turning his wheels. Better manners perhaps. A higher social standing. Whatever it was, six weeks after their junior prom, Ron had found Kim in the arms of Josh engaged in an act Kim had told Ron she wasn't yet ready for. He had backed out of the room before either of them had noticed him. Ron had spent the next two days wondering what to do. He recalled that over the past two weeks she had been acting different from usual - more nervous, or guilty. She had evaded any attempt on his part to discovery why. _'Trust'_ Ron had decided is what any friendship or relationship is built on. Reluctant to throw away thirteen years of friendship he had decided to give Kim a test. If she confessed her relationship with Josh within two weeks then enough trust for friendship would still remain, if not then he would break it off, not just the relationship but the friendship as well. To Ron those thirteen years had a lot of value. Memory upon memory, every one of which involved her in some way. It was a lot to just throw away. She had broken it off with Ron on the thirteenth day, though she had to be prodded a bit to actually confess the rest of it.

He stared out the window, still recalling. After that things had been pretty awkward. The missions were the only thing that had remained the same. They would get on whatever transport Wade arranged for them, go to whatever spot the villain of the day had decided was a good area for a lair, and then take down said villain. Which brought his thoughts to the mission that had got Kim hurt. _'The Infinity'_ project had been the brain child of some genius scientist whose only dream had been to lift humanity to the next stage of evolution. Ron really couldn't fault him on his goals. An end to death itself. No more disease. No more hunger. No more accidental deaths. The death of death. This scientist, Jinglin O'Carlon, had created a nano-machine that could infiltrate the human body and replace it, cell by cell, with Carbon Nanotubes and Buckyballs. The resulting person was an exact copy of the original except made of a material a hundred times stronger than diamond, with mental and physical reflexes boosted by a similar amount.

Of course something went wrong. It always does. With several rabbits so transformed with no ill affects the project leaders had thought carefully about who should be the initial human test subject. They choose the person who had financed the project. That had been where they went wrong. Hidden within the human population are a group of people whose minds are very different from those of normal people. The minds of those people don't feel fear the same way normal people do. Nor anxiety, or shame, or love, or empathy. They study the people around them and mimic normal behavior, with none of the associated emotions. Confident, believing themselves superior, those people exhibit all the characteristics people often find desirable in a leader. In short the initial test subject they chose was a psychopath by the name of Willian Johnson.

Transformed Will had set about eradicating all the scientists who could have duplicated the project. This is where Kim came in. Drakken, having heard about the project had decided to steal it. Wade had found out about Drakken's plans. And so the four of them, Kim, Ron, Shego, and Drakken, had ended up at the laboratory of the _'The Infinity'_ project. The fight, if one could call it that, had lasted about one second. Will had spotted the four of them. Ripping a piece of metal off a stairwell he had flung it at them with enough force that it went through Shego, then Drakken, then Kim, and finally Ron. Shego, thanks to her comet powers was up and walking around. Drakken was in intensive care, a lung having been pierced as the makeshift spear went through him. Kim had gotten lucky, it had missed her heart by less than an inch. The metal projectile had merely scratched Ron on the side. If one could call a gaping wound eight inches long with a cracked rib a scratch. Still, he had been one of the lucky ones.

Will had disappeared then. Shego, ignoring her own wounds had worked on Drakken to keep him alive while Ron had tried to staunch Kim's bleeding. Both would have failed if the paramedics had not arrived less than three minutes later. Drakken would be on life support for at least a week until his lungs healed. Kim had a hole through her but it had missed anything vital. She would. however, be under close observation until they could be sure that no arteries or anything had been nicked that could lead to a fatal surprise later on. Ron had a number of stitches and taped ribs. Shego, well she had refused anything other than a band aid. _We were lucky, _thought Ron. _We had a piece of metal fly through all four of us and not one of us died. Practically a miracle._

He turned his thoughts to Will, the psychopath. Wade had already hacked into his computer systems. What he found had sent chills down Ron's back. Plan after plan for destroying the human race. Plans which would have had little hope for success were he still human, but now had chilling consequences. Global Justice was in an uproar and getting nowhere. The world's militaries were looking at each other across nuclear arsenals and weapons of mass destruction rather than trying to stop the threat. Personally Ron thought Will had a good chance of succeeding even if he did nothing personally. People's fears would do all the work for him.

Ron sighed and stood up. He walked to Kim's side and gently stroked back her hair. She hadn't, as far as he could recall, laughed or smiled for a very long time. Not since the time he figured she had started cheating. "I'm going now Kim," he told her. "Monique should be here soon." There was a paused as he tried to think of more to say. "I'm going to see if Wade has found out anything else on Will. You get some rest okay." He turned and walked out the door.

00000

Kim heard him go. She opened her eyes and looked around, ignoring the pain the hole left in her chest. _Sort of like the hole in my heart, _she thought. She had never felt so alone before. Before, no matter what, she had had Ron there with her. Now, though she wasn't sure of that. Physically he was there, but things were so different now. She tried to sigh but the pain stopped her. Pain killers only went so far and so long as she remained motionless it wasn't too bad. No need then for drugs that could be addictive. She recalled staring up in shock as he had worked to save her, ignoring the blood running down his own side. He had nearly bled to death trying to prevent the same from happening to her. When the paramedics had arrived they had had to pump as much blood into him as they had into her since he had not even tried to staunch his own wound. Meanwhile the person she had rejected him over, had betrayed him for, wouldn't even skip an art show to come and see her.

She recalled how things had changed. No more breakfasts at her place together. No more walking to school together. No more sitting at the same table during lunch at school. No more Bueno Nacho. No more studying together. No more talking together like only friends of thirteen years could. On mission trips they each sat in silence. And on the way back from them no more back rubs. There was no longer anyone whom she could trust absolutely. No one who could trust her in such a manner. The dweebs hated her, having taken away their _brother. _And the way her mother was often silent around her. She recalled _'the talk'_ with Ron where she found out he already knew. He hadn't looked angry, hadn't been mad at her. It had been, he said, her choice.

And it was all for nothing. She knew that now. She had dated Josh before and it hadn't worked out. Then had come Eric, then Ron. She had no idea why she had thought it would work out with Josh a second time around. Josh liked none of the things she did, except for dancing. And she wouldn't be able to explain his art to anyone if her life depended on it. She couldn't care less about it. And as for going to those art shows, standing around doing nothing but talking about bits of canvas placed on walls as thought they were important? She would have shuddered if it wouldn't have hurt so much. No matter how much she thought about it she couldn't figure out why she went back to him, let alone had sex with him while she was dating Ron.

She heard a noise in the doorway. She turned her eyes that way as far as she could, trying not to move, and saw Monique. "HGWU," Monique said.

"Not much," Kim answered in a whisper, trying not to breath too deeply. She hoped she had correctly interpreted _HGWU_ as _hi girlfriend, what's up_. Monique she recalled had not spoken to her for weeks after the breakup with Ron.

"Where's Ron?" Monique asked.

"No sure," she whispered back. "Trying to find out more about Will I think."

"And Josh?" Monique asked coldly. Kim remained silent to that question and Monique frowned. "Open mouth," she ordered Kim, who was puzzled did so. Monique dropped a small chocolate in it. "Given the hospital food here thought you might like a treat," Monique explained.

Kim let the chocolate dissolve in her mouth, grateful. Finally she whispered back, "Thanks Monique."

Monique pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat in it. Reaching through the rails of the bed she held Kim's hand. Kim squeezed the hand back gently and settled back into her guilt.

00000

Ron viewed the image of Wade on the Kimmunicator. "How's it going Wade? Much luck handling this Will guy?"

"None Ron," the answer came back. "Nothing we got can stop this guy and he's gathering components for what seems to be a doomsday device. We can sometimes predict where he will be but we can't stop him. He's already gathered a number of components."

Ron thought for a few seconds. "Are you guys just trying to guard the components? Why not instead destroy whatever he goes after? Won't stop him but it should slow him down."

The image on the Kimmunicator blinked and Ron could see fingers fly over a keyboard. "You know Ron, that actually might slow him down. Yeah, so far we've just been trying to guard stuff."

Ron nodded. Geniuses often missed the obvious he decided. "I'm going to be out of touch for a day or so," he told Wade and turned off the Kimmunicator before the genius could ask for further details.

Ron approached the room where Drakken was being monitored. There were two guards outside the door, who recognizing him let him through. There were two inside as well, sitting beneath a camera that kept both Drakken and Shego, who was sitting beside him, in constant view. There was even more machinery around Drakken than there was around Kim. Shego looked up as he entered. "What do you want Buffoon?" she asked in a none too pleasant tone.

Ron ignored the tone and studied the woman. _She took a hit almost as bad as Kim did yet she's still on her feet. Amazing. Wouldn't mind some of that comet power for myself, and for Kim._ He let the thought run through his mind, putting off the main reason he had come here. The woman's tone had no affect on him at all. He noted the thick bracelets she wore, an attempt to block her powers. They were, he knew, only partially successful at that but the process of her trying to use them would sent off alarms. Titanium handcuffs and leg chains designed to withstand her plasma were thick enough it would take even her some time to burn through them. The woman had only been allowed to remain at Drakken's side because Dr. Director knew that doing anything else would be more trouble than it was worth. The woman would just break out of any prison she was in and come for him.

Ron took a chair and sat down a few feet from her. She practically growled at him. He ignored it. Shego was obsessed with contracts. If she attacked him now she would not be allowed to stay and since her contract stated she was to protect Drakken... The only time he knew of that Shego had even bent the rules of a contract was when she had tossed Drakken aside in order to use Zorpox. Ron had, through the use of Wade, later found out that Drakken had let the deadline for renegotiating their contract pass. Technically she had not been under contract at the time.

"You know," Ron started conversationally, "Global Justice has about much chance of catching this guy as Wile E. Coyote has of catching Bugs Bunny."

Shego blinked, taking a second to interpret the cartoon terminology. "And I should care why?" she asked.

Ron shrugged. "Well, you can hardly take over the world if it's been destroyed," he stated matter of factly.

Shego frowned. "That's the goal of this Will guy? Destroying the world?" She didn't like the thought of that. She had been questioned after she and Drakken had been captured. During the process the interrogators had let out more than they had got in return. Nearly indestructible and super fast.

Ron nodded. "Given the way things are going now I'm guessing he's got a good chance at it too. Global Justice is running around in circles. And this guy is smart enough as well as powerful enough to grab whatever he wants. Including nukes or biological weapons. Not to mention there isn't a prison in the world that can hold him assuming they could catch him."

Shego's frown deepened. "You really think he could succeed?"

Ron watched her for a few seconds and then leaned closer. Shego cringed back and almost tried to ignite her plasma. Ron ignored it and just leaned closer. He whispered in her ear for a few seconds. She blanched. "That's how easy destroying the world would be he added," as he leaned back away from her.

Shego stared at him for a few seconds thinking. "You sure you're not Zorpox?" she asked in a voice tinged in worry. _It can't be that easy, _she thought.

Ron shrugged. "Just saying it's not all that difficult. Destroying something is easier than making it."

"Why tell me?" Shego was curious. "It's not like I can stop him. He's a hundred times stronger than I am, a hundred times faster, and immune to plasma."

"With something that powerful and dangerous you don't face it one on one Shego. You set a trap and bring in overwhelming force. This thing is going to laugh off stun guns and artillery shells. I have something bigger in mind."

"Oh?" Shego was listening now, her voice serious. The Buffoon she might laugh at but the person in front of her seemed more like Zorpox, just not insane. "What did you have in mind?"

Ron leaned in close again. This time Shego didn't pull away. He whispered a few words in her ear. She pulled away and looked at him, disbelief on her face. "You're crazy!" She said. Then she added, "I love it." She looked at the two guards who were just out of hearing range of their conversation. "But what are you telling me for? Global Justice could set that up easily."

Ron shook his head. "This Will guy is an expert in computers and Global Justice setting this up would not be able to keep it secret from him. They would be using computers in every step of the operation. It has to be a small group that can keep all mention of the operation off all computer systems."

"And Kim is down for the count." Shego stated.

Ron nodded. "She is. Will be days before she's back up around, let alone fighting something like this."

"And you need muscle to pull this off." Shego added.

Ron nodded again. "Something I believe you are good at, not to mention being smart enough to critic any flaws in the plans. Though in this case I would appreciate it if you did the criticizing before the plan is set in operation rather than at the last second."

Shego shrugged. "I critic Dr. D's plans before he puts them into action. He just doesn't listen." She looked down at her wrists. "For example I can see a couple of problems rights here," she said indicating the bracelets and handcuffs.

Ron grinned. "If that were our biggest problem then I wouldn't be worried. So you're in for this?"

Shego nodded. "Sounds like a _blast_." She emphasized the word blast.

Ron looked thoughtful. "Okay, before we start we set the details of the contract."

Shego looked amused. "Don't trust me?" she asked.

Ron just looked at her, and Shego couldn't help but laugh. "Smart guy," she added.

They spoke for another half hour, ironing out the details of the verbal contract. Leaving he told her, "back in two to three hours, black hair, blue eyes." Shego nodded.

**The Escape**

Ron browsed the convenience store. It was pretty rundown and he doubted it had a surveillance system. Looking through the hair care section he picked out a box of black hair dye. Moving along to skin care he picked a box that promised a true tan-like appearance after one application. In all he picked out a dozen items. Later, at his house, it took him an hour to apply it all. What emerged was a completely different Ron. Black hair, dark tanned skin, blue eyes, twenty pounds added to his normally trim figure - he had since the Eric incidence been exercising and practicing the martial arts regularly. Fake fingernails that had been applied and then roughed up a little along with grease stains gave the appearance of one who worked with machinery. His posture was altered slightly. Careful work with some markers gave the appearance of a number of minor scars on both face and hands if one didn't look too closely. Even his own mother would not have recognized him. Rufus didn't, even after sniffing at him several times. Durable glue had been applied to the tips of his fingers to hide any fingerprints, combined with gloves for double protection.

Ron opened several boxes of food for Rufus and made sure he had plenty of water. Rufus could take care of himself within the home, but Ron wanted to make sure. That done he sat down at the kitchen table and went to work on a couple cans of hair spray. He carefully applied a seal to each can and punched a hole in each. Through those holes he allowed half the pressure in each can out, then inserted two chemicals until the cans were back up to the normal pressure. One of the chemicals caused immediate and uncontrollable irritation. With this added it was effectively a can of mace. But the second chemical he added was a concentrated form of chloroform. That done he sealed the holes. _I've seen far too many crazy things in my life, _he thought, _in order to know how to do this._ The last item were the radios, modified so that they could jam a signal. _Do I thank the villains or the twins for knowing how to do this, _he wondered. _Maybe there is no different, given what the twins come up with. _He smiled. He had not seen the two, nicknamed the dweebs by their sister, for so long. _Get through this alive maybe I should visit just to play a few video games with them._ He hadn't visited the Possible's house in a long time.

Ready he set off for the hospital once again. He was nervous, way too nervous. Before when he and Kim had done something like this they had had the law on their side. Now if he got caught he would be in big trouble. Rather than going to a culinary institution next year he would be spending time cooking for villains in some state penitentiary. _Maybe I should have added a clause in that contract requiring Shego to burst me out in that situation, _he mused. He focused his breath, forcing the panic away until he was calm.

Drakken he knew was checked on every thirty minutes by either a nurse or a doctor. The machines monitoring him could only be trusted so far. Ron stood just outside of the view of the guards by Drakken's door and watched the people pass. He had a ledger in his hands and put on an appearance of studying it carefully. He knew who the nurse was who was currently assigned to check on Drakken, having checked the nurses office when he came in. He watched her pass, going in to check on Drakken. When she passed him on the way out he continued on his way to Drakken's room.

The two guards eyed him curiously, but not suspiciously. They were there to keep Shego under guard, not to worry about anyone going in. As he approached the door he let the two cans he had slipped up his sleeve slide down. He gave them a full burst of the noxious chemicals less than three inches from their face. The irritating chemicals made them inhale in an attempt to draw air, doing so caused them to inhale a large quantity of chloroform. They dropped almost instantly, unable in the second or two they did remain sitting in their chairs to do much of anything. The cans slid back up his sleeves and he continued in the room as though nothing had happened, a serene expression on his face.

"Evening," he said upon entering the room. He looked first at Shego, ignoring the two guards.

She looked back, disbelieving. He had told her he would be changing his look and to what but she had doubted it would be a convincing change. Now, looking at him, she doubted it was him. All she could do was assume it was him and not someone else whose appearance resembled the description he had given her. "Who are you and what do you want?" She growled at him.

It was what he needed in order to be able to back away, up towards the guards. The guards at the door had to let people get close to them because people were passing in and out of the room. These had been ordered to let no one within a few meters. Now Ron backed towards them as though startled, just backing away from Shego. It was a move the guards could understand and caused no reaction. At least not until Ron turned and gave them a dose of his homemade mace/chloroform. They went down without a struggle.

He turned back to Shego who now had her head down beside the bed, as though resting. Taking out a camera he filled the scene for several seconds as seen from the angle of the camera above him. Time was now of the essence with two guards lying on the floor outside the room. Taking out the mini-dvd player he had he inserted the disk and set it to play, repeatedly. Holding the dvd player he held his breath and with a flick of his wrist, moving as fast as he could so anyone watching with not see the picture distort for any length of time, moved the dvd display in front of the camera. He glued it into position with crazy glue.

The two remain silent though Shego was now standing up staring at him, an eyebrow raised, amused. He hurried to the door and dragged the two guards inside. He then pulled out the modified radios and turned them on. "Jammers," he whispered to her and pointed at the bracelets on her wrist. She nodded and her hands began to glow green as she tried to summon her plasma. The electrical forces the bracelets emitted partially disrupted the attempt, but only partially. Five minutes later the two bracelets fell to the ground. The look of relief on Shego's face as they did so was comical.

Ron meanwhile grabbed an unused IV stand beside an empty bed. Before Shego could turn her plasma on the titanium shackles he had her rip the cord from it and also the bottom of the stand which he had her bend in the shape of an hook. She was puzzled by the request but did the task quickly so she could get back to freeing herself. Tying the cord to the hook Ron opened the window and looked across ten feet to a pipe that ran up the side of the building. He flipped the makeshift hook out so it caught on the pipe. He tested it and then tied his end of the cord to the sturdy lock on the window. Shego, still burning away at the shackles, was looking at him as though he were crazy. "We're fifteen stories up," she whispered. "If that fails..."

Ron shrugged. "Why would it fail?" he asked in a low whisper, grinning at her. Shego glared back.

It took Shego five minutes each for the hand shackles and leg shackles. Freed of the heavy restraints she stretched. Looking at Drakken she was obviously reluctant to leave him. She looked up to see Ron watching her, impatient. "I know," she said, still whispering. "No way to move someone that badly injured and whatever their faults Global Justice will see to it he has the best care." She moved to window ledge and looked out. She turned and looked at Ron again as if to ask if he was insane.

"Nay, not crazy Shego. Just haven't been caring all that much about life lately." Shego started to question him but he added, "Let's go." He climbed out on the ledge, paused and turned to her, pulling a spare pair of gloves out of his pocket. "You might find these handy here." Then he grabbed onto the cord and started to pull himself across it to the pipe. As he moved the cord moved downward a little bit and the hook slid downward on the pipe, taking up any slack. In a manner of seconds he was to the pipe. Grabbing it he started to slide down, stopping twelve feet down where there was a small ledge. He looked back at her.

_This is insane, _she thought, sliding along the length of cord. Not that she hadn't tried crazier things in her life, but those where things she set up and planned for. Things she had studied and planned in advanced to minimize any risk. This was something the Buffoon had planned. Shego was terrified. She looked out at the dark night sky. _No one to see us make our escape, _she thought. _Or fall to our deaths._ Despite the terror she moved quickly. By her estimates in less than ten minutes the nurse would be by to check on Dr. D. They had to be down and away by then. Grabbing the pipe, which thankfully seemed sturdy, she started to slide down. She reached the ledge and let her feet slide down over it. She then moved her hands carefully past the ledge and continued sliding. There was such a ledge every fifteen feet.

With both of them on the ground Ron checked his time, five minutes until the next nurse checked on Drakken. They had to get some distance between them and the hospital soon or else the place would be swarming with cops and GJ agents. He pointed to a nondescript car and looking questioningly at Shego asked, "How long to break in and hotwire it."

Shego grinned. Lighting one finger she burned a hole large enough for her pinkie finger into the glass in three seconds. Two seconds later the door was unlocked and opened. It took her another fifteen seconds to hotwire the car. Ron was impressed. "That's about five minutes faster than I could have done it," he admitted. The two were now heading away from the hospital at a speed that was just under the speed limit. It seemed way too slow for both of them.

Shego, for her part was surprised the Buffoon could even hotwire a car, but then she remembered the radio jammer for her bracelets and the homemade mace/chloroform. She shrugged. "Where to?" she asked.

Ron thought for a few minutes. "Well, it's six hours until the next stage of the plan starts so I guess we should find some place to rest." He gave her an address and some rough directions. Throughout the drive the two kept waiting for the sound of sirens.

"Wonder how long before the car is missed?" Shego mused.

"Won't be until twelve tomorrow," Ron answered. She looked at him wondering how he knew that. Ron noticed the look and answered, "It's James Lawson's car. He's stuck with a sixteen hour shift. I checked. He won't be leaving until noon tomorrow."

Shego was impressed with the amount of planning Ron had put into the escape. "And the place we're heading to?" she asked.

"A house that's up for sale. Shouldn't be anyone coming by there this late at night. And so long as we're left before six tomorrow morning it will be a nice place to sleep. It will have heat and running water. Certainly better than remaining in the car. Can't go to my place even with my parents gone since that's the last place I want GJ to find you." A few seconds later, "Also I went by there before heading to the hospital and left some food in the bushes there. If no animals have found it we will have something to eat."

This Shego decided almost felt like working with a real partner rather than the Buffoon, or Dr. D for that matter. Dr. D, she knew would have messed up any number of steps along the way so far. _The Buffoon has changed a lot recently, _she though and wondered why. She had noticed changes during the missions where he and Kim had stopped her and Dr. D and had wondered about them. She recalled the comment he had made earlier in the hospital about not caring all that much about life lately. The climbing outside of a building like that would have made the old Ron she knew scream in panic, yet this Ron hadn't flinched.

The house was more of a bungalow. Small and cozy looking. It also had a small garage where the car could be hid. Inside Ron immediately turned up the heat and using a few sheets of black paper he had included in the bag of food blacked out the windows so they could turn on the lights, at least in the kitchen. The two of them then sat down to their meal. To Shego, used to lair food, it was more of a feast. The sort of food she got on her few vacations. Ron turned on the stove and warmed up what needed warming up and set about preparing the meal while Shego sat back and watched. "Your mother is a good cook," she said later between mouthfuls of food.

Ron shrugged. "I cooked this."

Shego looked up, amazed. "You can cook and you cooked this?" She was doubtful.

"One of the few things I'm good at. If I don't get sent off to prison in the next few days I play on attending a culinary school somewhere. Maybe Japan." Ron took a bite of a piece of salmon that he had done culinary miracles too.

"Why Japan?" Shego wondered aloud.

"I can speak the language and it's far away from here." Ron answered. He grinned, "Wait until then and you and Drakken won't have to worry about me setting of the self-destruct in your lairs any more."

"What about Kim?" She wondered, again aloud. Silently she noted the admission that the Buffoon was bilingual. _Who would have thought, _she quietly mused.

Ron's voice took on a coldness she would not have believed possible. "What she does then is her own business." A pause and he continued less coldly. "I hope she gets out of the business of being a hero. Maybe joins Global Justice so she at least has a team backing her up. I would hate to see her get hurt."

Shego was curious but decided not to pry any further into the Kim business. _Don't want to end the truce we have as of yet, _she thought. "Aren't you bothered by busting a wanted felon out of jail, well the hospital anyway? Or the stealing of a car? Or crashing in a place like this?" she asked.

Ron shrugged. "Better than letting the world end."

"So the ends justifies the means?" Shego asked. She was curious about the Buffoon, had been for a long time. His talent for destroying things went beyond mere luck. Setting off the self-destruct for a lair was not as simple as pressing a button. Well at least not since Drakken had disconnected the button, and yet the Buffoon still somehow activated it.

"No." Ron answered firmly. "The means doesn't always justify the ends. Just sometimes. The car and the house are property, they can be fixed if damaged or replaced. Compared to a god-like psychopath running around with plans to destroy the human race those are minor things."

"And busting a felon out of prison?" Shego wondered.

"As felons go Shego you're pretty tame."

Shego took offense at that. Lighting her hands she glared and asked, "Tame?" in a voice the promised pain.

Ron shrugged. "You have yet to seriously harm anyone. Not even so much as a permanent scar on any of the GJ agents that have tackled you so far." He paid no attention to the plasma that would have terrified him a half year ago.

Shego let the flames die. _Damn, _she thought. _I must be losing my touch or there is something seriously different about him. The second, _she decided. "Just how are you setting off the self-destruct in those lairs when the self-destruct button has been disabled? she asked.

Ron raised an eyebrow in here direction. "You expect me to tell you that?" he asked. "Would suck for me and Kim the next time we need to destroy a lair only to find it didn't work any more."

Shego had to admit he had a point. "Just don't see how you can be using the self-destruct when Dr. D swears he's disconnected it and actually removed the mechanism for activating it."

"You have to remember who actually builds those lairs Shego. Or at least supplies the major components for then. Jack Hench. If there wasn't an easy way to set of the self-destruct he would be out a lot of money."

Shego grumbled at that. She looked at the time. This had been the most enjoyable meal she had had in a long time. The most normal at least. She hated for it to end. "When do we get started tomorrow?" she asked.

"At six, so yeah, we had better get some rest. You can take the bed, I will take the couch. The two parted and settled down for the night.

As she settled down to sleep Shego wondered at the plan Ron had briefly outlined to her. _If Dr. D and I were to try something like that Kim and Ron would stop us without fail. Wonder how it's going to work out? _

00000

Back at the hospital Monique quietly sat holding Kim's hand. Kim had slept for most of the time but had briefly waken and asked if Ron was there. She had seemed sad when Monique told her she hadn't seen him. Monique wanted to be angry at Kim but seeing the pain she was in blunted any anger she might have felt. Monique too wondered where Ron was. Not wanting to leave the redhead alone Monique settled down to sleep in the chair, trying to get as comfortable as possible. Briefly she wondered what the alarms a few hours ago had been about.

**Getting the Goods**

Shego stirred to awakeness with reluctance. The bed she was in was more comfortable than most of the ones she had had in the various lairs over the years. It was realizing this fact that eventually brought her from being half awake to full alertness in seconds. She kept her eyes closed, feigning sleep until she recalled the events of the day before. _Finally a decent bed to sleep in and I got to get up at bloody six a.m., _she thought to herself. She got up and headed to the bathroom and noticed the shower there. _Hell of a lot better than spending the night in the car. _She grinned, stripped, and stepped in.

Twenty minutes later it was a very frustrated Shego that was standing over the motionless form of a sleeping Buffoon. _What in the name of God does it take to wake this guy, _she wondered. She lit up her hands and sent two mild blasts of plasma into him. Ron for his part just stirred a little, twisted around, found a new comfortable spot and kept on sleeping. Shego upped the power on the plasma and tried again. Same result. She lifted him up and dropped him on the floor. Clunk! Ron's hand reached out, grabbed some blankets and he curled up around them, snoring slightly now. She dragged him to the bathroom and dumped him in the tub and turned on the cold water. He settled down in it as though it were a nice, warm, relaxing, bath. "Oh for Pete's sake," Shego muttered. She yelled in his ear. It didn't work any better than the first few times she had tried that. She thought for a minute wondering what else to try. She didn't want to hurt him, at least not too much, since he was vital to the plan they had for stopping the psychopath Will. "Might as well have some breakfast," she muttered, wondering how much was left of the previous day's meal.

The drenched Buffoon suddenly stood up, sending water flying all over the place, including on Shego. "Breakfast?" he asked, eyes bright.

Shego groaned. _All that and I only had to mention the bloody word breakfast. _She felt like sending more plasma into him. "Yeah, we need to leave soon so we had better eat something."

Ron nodded, then looked down. "Why am I in a bathtub full of cold water?" he asked. Shego ignored him and headed for the kitchen.

"So Shego, how good are you at robbing banks?" Ron asked as they finished off the remainder of the food.

Shego shrugged. "Pretty good. Why?"

"Well, we do need to buy some things from Jack Hench, like a hovercraft, and I don't have that sort of cash on hand so it's either steal from him or steal from the banks. Personally I prefer the banks, less likely to end up dead."

Shego had to agree, even she would think twice about stealing from Jack Hench. Still the thought of the Buffoon plotting a bank robbery wasn't something she could get her mind around. Given yesterday's events though she would bet that he could pull it off. "You have a plan or do we just go in and blast our way through the vault?" she asked.

"I would prefer as little fighting as possible, and to be seen as little as possible. You might like the life of a criminal but after this I want to go back to being just plain old Ron, or Buffoon if you prefer that term. Still we need a few items before we can hit the banks and they are going to be expensive. Maybe I should have first asked how are you at shoplifting. I found it bad enough yesterday shoplifting that camera and the dvd player."

"You shoplifted those?" Shego asked, wondering why she was still surprised at the Buffoon's actions.

"Didn't have enough money to buy them and buying them would have left a record," Ron answered.

Shego looked at him closely. "You sure you're not Zorpox?"

Ron looked back. "I'm as much Zorpox as you are Miss Go." Shego sat back, pondering the answer, not sure if she liked the implications.

The first item on the list were more radios. Shego grabbed those, and then went off the find some a camera and a dvd player. When she returned she found Ron working on the radios. "What are you doing?" she asked, wondering if his answer would make any more sense than Dr. D's usually did.

"Turning them into jammers," he explained. "They will block the radios the guards carry and the radio in the security vans when we hit the them. It will give us a few minutes to operate in before the police are alerted. We time it right we shouldn't even see a sign of a police car."

"Security van? So we aren't going to actually hit the banks themselves?"

"No, even for you burning through a bank vault door would take time. Best to just take what the vans are carrying and get moving. Less gain but also less chance of being caught," Ron explained.

Shego felt disappointed. Seeing the door of a bank vault melt beneath her attack was always so satisfying. She shrugged and thought, _oh well it's his plan and he does have a point. Getting caught would suck._ "You think they will be carrying enough for our purposes?" she asked.

"Maybe. Not sure. That's why we're going to hit two of them. "The haul is likely to be quite large. We will be hitting the security vans for two of the biggest banks in the state." He looked at the stuff they had gathered so far. "We need a couple of paintball guns," he told her and she went off to get them.

It took a while to set up transportation. First they needed to find a suitable van. Stealing it was as easy as stealing James Lawson's car had been the night before. They drove it to a deserted area where with spray paint cans they gave it a quick makeover. License plates from a similar type vehicle in a junkyard replaced the original license plates of the van. Then they went to work on the back of the van. When transporting valuables around the banks often included radio transmitters with valuables. The back of the van had to be made opaque to those to prevent any attempts at tracking via those transmitters.

Eventually they were prepared and found themselves trailing a security van for the X&Z International Bank. They stayed about thirty meters behind the van, making no aggressive moves. On a deserted section of the highway they signal a desire to pass. The security van slowed down to let them do so. Passing they came within three feet of the vehicle at which point Shego coated a couple of the modified radios they had with crazy glue and tossed it on top of the van. As they pulled ahead she used the paintball gun to turn the whole of the vehicle's windshield a bright blue.

The driver, unable to see, had no choice but to stop. Trying their radios they found the interference prevented any call for help. Shego and Ron were out of the van running. before the security van had even come to a full stop. Each running along different sides of the target quickly dashed glue on the door. Specialized glue it dried in seconds and barred the two guards inside the vehicle. Next wooden blocked immobilized the vehicle so that even if they did try to run they wouldn't be able to. It was then a simple matter for shego to burn a small hole through the back of the target. A hole large enough for a small can of mace/chloroform to be tossed through. The holes punched in the can allowed it to quickly fill the back of the vehicle with its fumes, leaving two unconscious guards. Shego finished burning through the doors and two minutes later the two were in their own stolen van heading away.

They didn't go far. A mere two miles up the road they stopped and pulled the van off the road and out of sight of anyone going by. They quickly did another paint job on the van and switched plates again. The time they had before any chase was given depended on how long it took for someone to stop and check the vehicle. Even then it would take time for the police to get there, analyze the situation, and then give chase. The two thieves were nearly a hundred kilometers away before that happened.

Shego was surprised at how simple it had been. And that the only firepower she had needed to apply was on the doors of the security van. No actual fighting and no one hurt. No one had even acquired any plasma burns, just some irritating chemicals that they would need to have washed out of their eyes.

A few hours later they repeated the process with the same result. A third time they both agreed would be pushing their luck. Word would have spread and failure would be more likely than success. So they settled back to count the loot. It was better than expected. The first vehicle had thirty-six million in cash, double what one would have expected. The second had twelve million. They went through the bags, removing the radio transmitters. Then Shego contacted Jack Hench and arranged a meeting for later that night.

"So, food?" Shego finally said after they had been sitting in the van doing nothing for an hour. It was well after twelve and her metabolism required a lot of fuel.

Ron sighed. "You know being a criminal is a pain. Can't even walk into a place and order something without wondering if someone there has just watched a 'person wanted' commercial about you."

Shego laughed. "Imagine how hard it is when you got green skin to give you away."

Ron considered the problem of getting food for a few minutes. Sighing he pulled on a cap that hid most of his hair and switched contact lenses, exchanging blue eyes for green. He dropped the padding around his middle and pulled on a different shirt. Something bright and flashy. Not what one expect someone hiding to wear. Shego watched the transformation quietly. _He's the type of person no one ever really notices and he can change his look in an instant. Useful._

Ron left and came back thirty minutes later carrying a small mountain of pizza boxes, along with two two liter bottles of soda. Climbing in he told her to dig in and set about restoring his original disguise.

The two munched on pizza and drank soda. "Ever think about switching sides and being a villain?" Shego inquired.

"Sure," Ron answered. He didn't elaborate.

"So what kept you? Kim?" Shego asked. _Even without Zorpox's evil he would makes a good villain, _she thought.

"No. And please don't mention her. I just don't see the use of having a ton of money and not being able to go into a store and buy a simple sandwich without having to worry about being caught. What use is money if you can't have fun with it?"

"You wouldn't have that problem if you ruled the world," Shego pointed out.

Ron laughed. "No, but what do you think is going to happen once you rule the world? You're just one villain out of dozens that are attempting it. You would be the target of so many plots that you would never get a decent night's sleep. You would be up pacing the floors wondering where the next threat is coming from. That would be a nightmare."

"That's a pretty gloomy picture," Shego admitted.

"And you would never have a free moment to yourself to do what you like. There are over two hundred countries, each with some sort of relation with each of the others. You would be up to your eyeballs in diplomacy trying to handle trade treaties and all the other stuff that goes with international relations. It would make you wish one of the plots to dethroned you worked just to be rid of it all." Ron shuddered.

"The diplomacy part of it is something I think Dr. D would like. He likes getting into the details like that. We ever succeed I would just hit the beaches somewhere and take care of my own little country. Appoint the right people and ignore unless they do something I disagree with."

"I still don't see the point of it," Ron admitted. "You could be rich and be hitting those beaches now if you wanted to. Just the sun and the sand and relaxing without having to worry about Global Justice or the police. I fail to see what appeal being a villain has for you."

Shego frowned. "It wasn't really a choice." She bit on her lower lip.

Ron looked at her. "How could someone force you into something like that? It's either you choose it or you didn't."

"I guess," she answered back. "Guess I should be glad the lifestyle does suit me and I got my comet powers to back me up."

"Why are you so obsessed with contracts?" Ron inquired. "Have people burned you before with falling through on contracts?"

"Yes and no," Shego answered. "With my brothers I was always the scapegoat when things went wrong. The contracts are to prevent that happening again. But mainly it's because I wasn't good at ..." She paused in thought. "Let's just say I pretty much ruined my own life by not following the details of implied contracts within my personal life. Setting contracts now sets points that I can look at and judge my own actions by whether or not they are in accordance with the contract."

Ron wondered at the response. "To me that is about as clear as mud," he admitted. "Well, other than the part about your brothers and not wanting to be a scapegoat. That I can understand."

"So what is it with you and Kim? I thought you were a couple now. Dream come true. So why so cold towards her?" She finally gave in to her curiosity.

"Nay, not a couple. Not any more and never should have been in the first place. It ruined everything." His voice was strained. He looked at the time. Two more hours until they met with Jack Hench.

"She cheated on you huh?" Shego half guessed.

"Yeah. That's me, the Buffoon! The Loser!" Ron kept his eyes on the time. _Oh well, _he thought, _it's not as though Shego doesn't already know I'm a loser._ Strangely though the woman was quiet for a long time. He wondered what her thoughts were.

"Junkies will often do anything to get their fix," Shego finally said. She was looking out the window. "Anything," she added.

"What do you mean? Kim isn't a junkie." Ron was puzzled at the response.

"Really? She can fall out of a plane without a parachute and no way to save herself, yet not panic. We've both seen that. What do you think let's her keep her calm like that?" Shego asked.

Ron shrugged. "So she's got more courage than any dozen people."

"I won't deny she has courage Ron, but that wasn't courage. That was a junkie getting her fix. Adrenaline. The thrill she must have been feeling then just overrode any fear."

"So what does that have to do with her cheating." Ron wanted the conversation to end but was curious.

"Adrenaline. Doing something forbidden and getting the rush from it." Shego answered. "People don't just get addicted to chemicals they pump into their bodies, they can get addicted to the chemicals their bodies produce." There was a few seconds of silence before Shego added, "She's going to crash and burn, just like I did." She sounded sad.

"Crash and burn?" Shego now had Ron's full attention.

Shego nodded. "That's what most addicts do. And think of the pain she must be in. She's a fanatic when it comes to morals. The guilt from doing something like that must be tearing her apart."

Ron frowned. "I can't remember the last time she smiled or laughed. Lately she hasn't been a very happy person."

"I got a thrill from stealing," Shego admitted. "Started off small but then I started stealing major stuff. That caused problems with my brothers in addition to their being sexist pigs. And I loved to fight. Kim, so far she's gotten her thrills from fighting villains, but I would fight anyone and anything."

Silence fell upon the two. Ron was thinking about Kim and how sad she had been of late. Shego was considering her own checkered past.

The meeting with Jack Hence went well. They hauled out sacks of stolen money and he gave them the keys to a brand new hovercraft. Price tag, forty-five million. It left then with three million to spare.

They hovered above Middleton, watching the lights, munching on more pizza. "So what did you do when you and Kim broke up?" Shego asked, breaking the silence.

"Got laid," Ron answered.

"Really?" Shego was again surprised. She would have expected him to mope around for weeks, if not for years.

"Well, not like there wasn't any reason not to. And I was curious." Ron admitted. "I figured why should she get to have all the fun."

"Anyone serious?" Shego inquired.

"Nay. In a school the size of Middleton High there are always a few girls who don't mind casual sex. More than enough to experiment with."

Shego went quiet. _Well that explains some of the changes I've seen between him and Kim on those missions lately,_ she thought.

An hour later they matched speed with a military jet. According to their sources it was carrying five experimental nuclear weapons. Ones that used a metallic hydrogen core that didn't need any uranium to trigger a fusion reaction. They were very clean in terms of fallout. Perfect for what they had in mind. With the cloaking device on they flew under the jet and rammed it from the bottom, clamps sealed the two vehicles together. To the people in the jet it was as though they had hit major turbulence.

Ron and Shego opened the hovercraft's sunroof and began to cut into the bottom of the jet. The two pilots in the jet were too busy to come back and check their cargo as they combated the _turbulence. _Ron and Shego moved four of the devices into the hovercraft with no problems occurring. Ron went to work on the fifth device. Being experimental some of the safeguards used for normal nuclear weapons had been omitted. It took him ten minutes to hack into the device and set it so that he could remotely activate it. _Guess it's Wade I should thank for knowing how to do this, _he admitted ti himself.

Before detaching from the jet they destroyed some of the guidance mechanisms. The jet went wild as it tried to twist and turn in the air, forcing the two pilots to eject. Ron and Shego watched the jet start to plummet to the ground. Ron remotely set the device they had left on board to detonate with a yield of 0.2 kilotons and the jet vaporized in midair. There would be nothing left to show that four of the devices had been stolen. Ron hoped the assumption would be that some sequence of events had caused the device to malfunction and there would be no search put out for the devices.

He looked at Shego. "Hopefully a nuclear device will be more than enough to handle even an enhanced psychopath like William Johnson."

Shego asked, "You think it won't be? Set those to go off at a megaton each and I can't imagine anything that could survive it. If he's close enough to the explosion he will be exposed to temperatures in the tens of millions degrees Celsius.

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "He'll be toast. Wish there was another way but a prison that can hold a creature like that is impossible. Anyway, we got the materials, now it's time to set the trap."

00000

Monique watched Kim sleep. In her opinion the girl, hurt or not, had been sleeping way too much during the day. The arrival of Josh earlier had not gone well. Kim had refused to speak to him. Monique had watched Josh's reaction and had noticed that Josh wasn't at all bothered by that. He just left saying something about a deadline he had to meet for the next art show. "I fail to see," she had told Kim, "why you picked him over Ron. You were Ron's world, to Josh you're second to pieces of canvas with paint on them." Monique for the life of her could not understand how art could ever out value human life. She couldn't understand Kim's decision. She didn't believe Kim could either.

Kim's father had phoned, but Kim had only spoken a few words to him. A storm had boxed him in at Houston and it wasn't expected to clear for a few days. Kim's mother had phoned too, with much the same result. She had to stay in Boston and monitor her patient. Monique was more worried about Kim's mental health than her physical health. _Guilt is killing the girl, _she noted. Each time she woke up she looked at the chair that Ron had been sitting in the day before and then went back to sleep.

**Setting the Trap (Part 1)**

The harsh sun beat down on the two. Ron felt the desire to curse the heat but decided not to. Cursing he decided would take too much energy. He and Shego were wandering around in what had once been a nuclear test site for the military. _It's not as though we can set a trap using nukes in the middle of a city, _he thought, _thought doing so would be a heck of a lot more comfortable._ From what he had read of the site there had been plans for a nuclear test the day after a treaty banning such tests had been signed. There should be a shaft somewhere where the explosion had been intended to take place. Finding it was turning out to be a pain - decades of wind swept sand had changed the landscape drastically. _It might even have buried the shaft, _he thought, _though with the shaft opening having been sealed that was unlikely. _Not far off came the sound of cursing and a small building, little more than a shed, vanished in a ball of green flames. Shego wasn't have much better luck.

Ron looked at the map he was holding and again tried to pinpoint the likely location of the shaft. _This is the testing area, _he noted the area circled on the map, _so the shaft should be in the exact center of that area. _He walked to indicated location and looked around. Nothing. He noted that the area he was standing on was level and the shaft opening would have extended five feet above ground levels. _So if it's here it hasn't been buried._ He kicked at the sand. It took the two another three hours of searching before they found it, the shaft opening having been flatten by some event or other and now being even with the ground around it. And another two hours before they managed to clear away the debris blocking access to the shaft.

Dirty, tired, and in a very foul mood the two gathered back at the cloaked hovercraft. "How long to set the devices?" Shego asked.

Ron though for a few seconds. "If the shaft is clear then not too long. The bottom one will be easy. Just place it there and set it to be activated by a motion sensor with a remote control detonator as backup. The second one will just take a bit longer since we need to hide it in the shaft wall. We want him to between the two explosions for the maximum affect."

Shego nodded. "So we need to do some excavation then? Just enough for one of the devices to fit in and be camouflaged?"

"Yeah, you would probably be quicker at the excavation, being stronger and all," Ron admitted. He took out a pickaxe and handed it to her. "Just let the debris from the excavation fall to the bottom of the shaft, a few feet less won't matter much. Start it around fifteen feet from the bottom. Around five feet will be filled with debris so that will end up being ten feet from the bottom. He will be caught with one explosion at his feet and the other only a foot or so above him. He will be caught between two shock waves, each which will be over a hundred million degrees Celsius. Nothing will survive that."

"I wonder," Shego started, "wouldn't it be easier to just use the Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer to get rid of him?"

"Wade already thought of that," Ron said. "Will's new body contains some thorium which it uses as a power source. The interference from it disrupts the field the Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer puts out." He sighed. "But if not for that it would be so much easier. How many times have you and Drakken stole that thing? One more time would have been easy. Plus would be no worries about finding a place like this away from people to use it."

Shego muttered to herself, sounding contrary. "Oh well, I will get started on the excavation then. You do whatever you need to do with those devices before we place them in the shaft." She paused and considered just how good Ron was at destroying stuff. "AND BE CAREFUL NOT TO BLOW US ALL UP!" She added forcefully.

"No worries Shego. If I mess this up neither one of us will know anything about it. We will be scattered atoms without a care in the world." Ron grinned at her. Shego shuddered and once again recalled Ron's words about not caring all that much about life lately. _Great, I'm working with someone who has a death wish, _she thought.

Two hours later the trap was set and ready to go. If all went well the prey would be caught between two one-megaton explosions and be vaporized. "Time to set the bait," Ron stated and the two headed back to the hovercraft.

00000

Wade was busy at his computers trying to track the location of the enhanced supervillain Willian Jackson. The trail wasn't hard to follow, he left more than a little destruction in his wake. Global Justice, having used Wade to pinpoint the villain a number of times, had failed miserably to stop him. Everything from stun-watches to anti-tank artillery had been tried to no affect. Those having tried the stun-watches had not survived. Tanks were rendered useless via mere rocks that the villain flung at them.

The thing that worried Wade the most were the items the villain was gathering. If combined in the proper manner they were capable of creating a number of doomsday devices. Each wouldn't eradicate all life on earth alone, but used together they could come close. There was talk among the more militant members of the military of using nuclear weapons even though Will seemed to be sticking to populated areas. Any such attempt could result in millions of casualties. Wade shuddered. Any attempt to get him to leave populated areas had failed. Being a computer expert himself, and being able to work at hundreds of times normal speed, Will could analyze military channels on the web and avoid any major traps for the simple reason setting such a trap required the use of military channels. Ron's plan of destroying anything the psychopath went after was working to slow him down, but only that.

Hearing a knocked on his door Wade called out, "Come in." It was several seconds before he looked up from his computers and saw it was a stranger. "Who are you?" he asked.

Ron, grinning, asked, "Don't recognize me Wade?"

"Ron? What are you doing here? And why do you look like that?" Wade asked.

"Come outside for a few minutes Wade," Ron told him.

"No can do. Got to keep working here." Wade answered back. He uttered a protest that was ignored as Ron picked him up and marched outside with him. His eyes widened as he saw Shego waiting for them."

"Got a task for you Wade but can't talk about it near any computers. Will is probably monitoring your communications." Ron explained.

"I don't have time for anything right now Ron," Wade tried to explain. "I have to keep track of that guy."

"What's he been up to lately?" Ron asked.

"Gathering equipment for doomsday devices. And he's getting close to getting all the components he needs," Wade answered.

"Rather inefficient of him I would say," Ron answered conversationally as though talking about the weather. "Especially since there are a couple of doomsday devices already constructed he could just grab."

"There are?" Wade asked, panicking. _If there were and Will went after them ... _He left the thought fade.

"Sure there are. Two off them. Of course the military is now going to destroy them." Ron grinned. "Or at least that is the information you are going to put out. Hopefully he will go after them." Ron explained the plan.

"You got a trap set with two nuclear devices?" Wade asked, not believing it. If it were true then the problem of Will learning of the trap was avoided - Shego and Ron had not asked any high ranking military officials for permission so there was no way he could have learned about it. All that was needed now was to lure him to the spot.

Ron nodded. "And that's where you come in. Will is seeking doomsday devices. If he found out there's already two built and ready for use he would go after them. But we can't just come out and say they are there or he will know it's a trap. Just hide a low level memo, make it seem like someone forgot to destroy that memo, and have it state they are scheduled for destruction in the next twenty-four hours. Don't use the main military channels but those of a contractor the military uses. Oh, and make sure that fake memo doesn't cross the eyes of any high ranking officials or that will also suggest it's a trap."

Wade nodded. "Got to make it seem like it's just a contractor being hired to get rid of the devices in a hurry before he can get them. I can handle that. You sure this trap will work?"

"If he falls for it it will. I don't see him shrugging of megaton level nuclear explosions." Ron paused and then continued, "If he can then we are in deep trouble."

Wade wondered where Ron would have found nuclear weapons but decided he probably didn't want to know. "Should I set sensors to watch the trap site?"

"No. Don't do anything to indicate the site has any value until the trap is triggered. However once the nuclear explosion is detected then you can set all the detectors you can on it.

Wade nodded his understanding. "I will get to it. You two want to come in and observe."

"Yeah, that would be nice." Both Ron and Shego nodded in agreement.

Inside Wade's fingers flew over the keyboard as he set up the fake memo and sent it. Then he turned off all potential microphones in the room that Will might use to eavesdrop on then. All that was left then was the waiting.

00000

The the fingers of the being, once known as William Johnson, flew over the various keyboards arranged in front of him, moving at a speed that occasionally broke the sound barrier. He had great trouble not destroying the keyboards or hitting the keys too fast for the computer to handle. That was why he needed several keyboards. Hit a key on one and then a key on another, then another,... Monitoring the communications between the world's various militaries, he knew where and how to avoid most of the traps they were trying to set for him. In his mind though it didn't matter, it wasn't as though they could hurt him. The monitoring was merely a side issue for his curiosity. The main purpose of the computers was to locate the various components he needed for the devices he was building. The devices that would eradicate the world of those inferior pests, leaving only him. The assembling of those devices was taking longer than expected. It was easy for him to be tracked and he would often arrive only to find the components he needed had been destroyed. It was greatly slowing down his progress. Not that it would matter in the end.

Something caught his eye on one of the screens. He paused, if one could call stopping for less than one one-hundredth of a second a pause. He read the fake memo and calculated the odds it was a trap. _Seven percent chance of it being a trap, _he mused. _But worth it to get my hands on two already constructed doomsday devices. Not as though I can be hurt. Won't hurt to check it out._ He stood up and moved towards the abandoned nuclear test site. Walking at a hundred times normal speed was impossible, the steps would throw one into the air, so he instead moved in leaps. Jumping from one spot to the next, the nuclear reactions of the thorium within his body providing nearly unlimited energy to do so. Those leaps allowed him to move at more than three hundred kilometers per hour.

00000

Wade sighed in relief. "I've spotted him moving. It seems like he's taken the bait.

Ron and Shego looked at each other and grinned. "Good," Ron answered for both of them. "How long before he gets there?"

"Around five hours," the genius answered back.

Ron looked at the time. _Might as well eat while waiting. Spent an awful long time in that desert. _He asked Wade to order some food and had him, with great protest, go out and pay for it when it arrived. He didn't tell the supergenius that he had just paid for the food with stolen money. _No need to freak him out, _Ron decided.

.

The three sat back, munching on the food, and waited.

00000

Will arrived at the site at the time predicted by Wade. He observed the area and saw where some work had been done on the opening to a shaft. The devices he was after contained a large amount of radioactive material, or so the memo said. The shaft was so deep so as to contain that material after the devices were destroyed. Before then a cement track was supposed to fill in the shaft. The lack of said cement truck was the only reason the devices had not already been demolished.

_I'm here in time, _he thought and grinned. He tore the covering that had been placed over the top of the shaft off and jumped in, sliding down.

Motion detectors detected the falling supervillain and waited patiently, the computer chip controlling the trap operated at a speed even the enhanced supervillain couldn't dream of. It noted when the villain passed the upper device, hidden in the wall of the shaft. And finally when the villain on his downward trajectory was evenly placed between the top and bottom devices. The code the chip was running noted this and gave the signal. The two one-megaton devices detonated, each no more than two feet from the supervillain. The shock wave, containing plasma heated to over a hundred million degrees Celsius, washed over him in less than a microsecond.

00000

With sensors around the world having noted the explosion Wade immediately ordered every satellite he could access to start viewing the area. He, Ron, and Shego, were grinning like crazy. _It worked, _Wade thought, _nothing could have survived that. _The three sat back rejoicing. The world had been saved again.

Wade noted some interesting data coming from one of the satellites. He frowned. _The place was just hit by enough energy to vaporize anything made of matter, what could be moving there? _He switched the satellite view to the main screen in front of him. The three watched in horror as a hand pushed up through ground zero of the explosion. Then an arm. Then the upper torso of the being known as Willian Johnson. Silence filled the room for half a minute, then Wade said, "Impossible."

More silence followed before Ron added, "You know if Jinglin O'Carlon's plan had worked out like he had hoped we humans would have received one major upgrade. Imagine being able to take that sort of blast and still keep moving."

"So what do we do now?" Shego asked, her voice as full of disbelief as the others.

Ron shrugged. "Personally I can't think of anything more powerful than a nuclear explosion to hit him with. You Wade?"

Wade shook his head. "From the satellite data I think the explosions hurt him, but just minor injuries. He's lost nearly two kilograms of mass but his body would have regenerated any wounds in seconds. Even that missing mass is already being replaced. He's drawing carbon out of the air and using it."

"Poison?" asked Ron.

"Wade shook his head again. "Nope, not a substance on earth that can poison him now."

Ron sighed. "Why couldn't they have used some sort of saint as their first human test subject," he muttered, frustrated.

The three let out a sight as one. "He's unstoppable and it's impossible to stop something that unstoppable." This was an admission of defeat from Wade.

Ron browsed the books that lined one wall of Wade's room. Something about the supergenius' comment tickled something at the back of his mind. The half formed thought just refused to take shape. "Unstoppable," he mused to himself aloud. "How do you stop something that is unstoppable?" The thought still refused to take shape. "You don't," he admitted with a sight. He continued to browse the titles and noted that Wade didn't just have science texts there but also a small collection of science fiction. Some he noted were by Jules Verne, including _'From The Earth to the Moon'._ A book he had read and vaguely recalled. He passed over it, moving on to other more technical books including one called _'The Technical Feasibility of a Space Cannon'. _he blinked and looked back to the Jules Verne title. He grinned.

"No, he's not unstoppable, he's indestructible. There's a difference." Ron was still grinning. Wade and Shego turned to look at him.

"You have an idea?" Wade asked.

Ron pulled the manual titled _'The Technical Feasibility of a Space Cannon' _and tossed it to Wade. "If we can't destroy him, we just throw him away, far far away."

Wade looked at the manual and then back to Ron. "You two have any more nukes left up your sleeves?" he asked.

Shego looked at the title of the manual and said, "We get to use more nukes! Yay!" She looked happy.

00000

Willian Johnson stood up, having just crawled through three hundred meters of ground after being hit by two nuclear explosions. _I truly am indestructible, _he thought. _No force on earth can stop me. _He laughed a crazy laugh that would have done the Seniors proud. Then he returned to gathering the components he needed for his own doomsday devices. He whistled as he did so, a whistle that would have shattered the eardrums of anyone nearby.

00000

Monique sketched on the pad she on her lap. Still stiff from sleeping in the chair despite a trip home and a shower. Kim, who had been sleeping when she left and had remained that way until she returned was just waking up again. Monique held the pad in front of the girl and asked, "ITFGOW?"

Kim looked at her confused. "Huh?"

Monique sighed wondering why people had such difficulty with Monique-speak. "Is this fashion genius or what?" she explained.

Kim looked at the pad and shrugged. "Guess so." She looked around, not seeing the one she wanted to see. She sighed. "Why couldn't he have hit me in the head? All over with then." She spoke softly, and cold shivers went down Monique's back.

**Setting the Trap (Part 2)**

"Can you find us a good place for the cannon without alerting Will?" Ron asked Wade.

Wade considered the question carefully before answering. It was a full minute before he answered. "He knows I'm helping GJ with tracking him so he's probably keeping track of me as well. I've disabled all the microphones in this room so he can't hear us, however he can still track what I do online. If I do a web search he will know about it."

"Hrm." Ron sat back to think. "How about giving us some parameters for a decent site and we going to the library to do the search? No link to you then."

"Might work," Wade agreed. "Basically we need a long tunnel with good solid walls, bedrock type stuff at the very least. We also need to be able to fill the area around the nuclear device with something that can be turned to plasma and be used to transfer the maximum kinetic energy to Will. I really can't think of many suitable locations but a search will probably find some good locations. Maybe a tunnel being dug as part of a railway system."

Shego looked thoughtful. "Something dug into bedrock huh?"

Wade nodded. "Something that won't collapse too soon under the force of the explosion."

"Would water be a good enough substance to create the plasma?" Shego looked reluctant to ask the question.

Wade nodded again. "Just about anything would be. Why? You have a location in mind?"

Shego stood staring at the ceiling for a good thirty seconds before answering. "Dr. D has a secret lair he's never used. It's meant as the ultimate hideaway in case Global Justice gets serious about him and no longer restrict themselves to trying to capture him but to eliminate him. You know, sort of like they would do if one of his plans went wrong and ended up killing a lot of people. He might want to take over the world but Dr. D isn't all that much into killing. That's where half of the programming in those Diablo Robots was, making sure no one got hurt. Or in any of his plans for that matter." Shego went silent.

"And that helps us how?" Rom prompted her.

"Well, it's pretty much dug down into the bedrock. One main entrance, a tunnel wide enough for a hovercraft, with a smaller escape shaft. Also it's below sea level. We can just turn a few knobs and we can fill as much of the tunnel as we want with seawater, or empty it of seawater for that matter." Shego frowned. "That lair cost more than three times as much as any of the others he's ever built. I give away the location and he might kill me."

Ron shrugged. "Just pay him back. We both know how easy robbing a bank is."

Shego grinned. "You make it look easy. You were right however, much simpler to just hit those armored trucks. Still I'll bet that will only work until Kim gets back on her feet and then the two of you will be messing things up as usual." Shego smirked at him. "Which, thinking of it, would be pretty hypocritical of you."

Wade frowned. Shego was speaking as though Ron was a bank robber. He dismissed the idea until he started to consider how the two of them got their hands on a hovercraft and nuclear weapons. The brief look of guilt on Ron's face sealed the thought. He gulped and considered just how many years he would get just by associating with them. _Wonder if they will let me take my computers to prison with me, _he wondered. He thought not. For someone like him it would be too risky.

Ron cleared his throat. "Back to the main topic?" he suggested. "You know where we save the world, including the banks. Just where is this super secret lair of yours "

Shego shook her head. "Promise you will help me rob enough banks to pay Dr. D back and I will tell you." She had a mischevous grin on her face.

Ron pointed at the time. "Every second we waste the closer Will gets to ending the world."

Shego sighed. "Oh okay. It's not far from here. For some reason he loves making Middleton the center of his operations even though that make it easy for Kim to get to him. One would think he's in love with her or something given how easy he makes it for her some times." Looking around she asked, "Got a map of the local area nerdling?"

Wade shook his head. "Not a paper one. Give me a few seconds." He disconnected one of his computers from the internet to ensure Will couldn't access it and loaded a map of the world from a CD. He clicked repeatedly on the image that came up on the screen until it showed the local area.

"Go around two hundred kilometers west," Shego told him and he did so. "Now zero in there," Shego said and pointed. Wade did so.

Wade studied the area Shego had pointed out. Accessing more information from the disk he studied the structure of the bedrock in the area. "Pretty good," he said. "In fact it's excellent. The ground there is igneous rock, granite to be precise. It was created by an ancient volcano and should be perfect for our purpose assuming the tunnel is suitably located." He turned to look at Shego. "How deep is the lair and what sort of slant does the tunnel have?"

Shego shrugged. "Never been there so can't answer for sure. It was something Dr. D just built and told me to head to if things got real bad." She stared upward, thinking for a few more seconds. "I think he said something about it being six hundred meters down. Said it was safe even from a nuclear attack." She grinned. "Guess he never figured the nuclear blast would take place inside the lair itself."

"Six hundred meters down?" Wade was surprised.

Shego nodded. "I know the location of the tunnel but got no idea what sort of slant it's on or even if it's straight. I guessing, knowing Dr D, that it's probably perfectly straight given he would have had the synthodrones dig it and they would make have made it a straight line."

"How long before Will gets all the components for his doomsday devices?" Ron asked.

"Not too much longer, twelve hours maybe." Wade looked worried. "That's just an estimate thought. Could be as low as six or as high as twenty or more. He still sleeps at times so we might get lucky and he might take a nap." He looked at the map again. "I suggest you two get out there and check the location. If the tunnel is straight and has a slant of thirty degrees or more then set the device at the base of the tunnel and fill it with around fifty meters of water. Need some way to trigger it as well but given how you two managed to rig up the other trap I will leave that up to you."

Wade sighed and then asked the question he wasn't sure he wanted an answer too. "So, just where did you two get your hands on nukes?"

Ron and Shego looked at each other. Shego grinned at Ron's expression and answered the question. "We stole them of course."

Wade gulped. He had been right. He didn't want to know the answer. "Just how many years you think I will get associating with you two like this."

"Oh, probably nine or ten life terms," Shego answered, amused by the young teen's expression at that answer.

"Get going," Wade told them worriedly.

00000

Given the speed at which a hovercraft could travel the trip took less than half an hour. Ron and Shego stood at the entrance of a tunnel that had been well hidden. A fake rock wall three meters thick and three meters wide had lifted out of the way when Shego had accessed a hidden panel.

"Looks pretty straight to me," Ron mentioned as they used a cart to traverse the tunnel which seemed to be slanting downward at around thirty degrees.

"Yeah. Perfect." Shego replied, still worried how Dr. D would react to the loss of his very expensive super secret lair. "You sure you don't want to help me rob a few banks so I can pay Dr. D back?" she asked hopefully.

"Think I will skip on that Shego," Ron answered.

"It's not as though it will get much added to your jail sentence. After the nukes banks are small fry." Shego tried to persuade him.

"But the more crimes I commit the more likely I am to get caught," Ron reasoned.

"True. But I would bust you out if you got caught," she offered.

"Right! You risk yourself to bust the Buffoon out of prison. I wonder if we're in some sort of altered reality here. Has Drakken been working with the Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer lately?" Ron looked as thought he was giving the idea a lot of thought..

Shego shrugged. "Now that you mention it this whole situation is weird. Maybe I'm just having a bad dream." She pinched herself.

Ron laughed. "Might be just a bad dream for you but it's a nightmare for me. I keep trying to figure out how to cook dinner for two hundred felons with a single porkchop and imagine them turning me into dinner."

Shego laughed. "I'm sure you would do fine. Just catch a few rats to add to it and they wouldn't know the difference."

Ron gave a slight shudder. "Remind me to look up rat recipes some time."

"Fried is always good," Shego answered back.

"Great," Ron muttered while swallowing, trying to get the image out of his mind. "Me, a world class chef reduced to frying rats."

Shego looked at him, a weird look on her face. _Pretty dumb of Kim to toss this guy away, _she mused. _Sort of cute, thought could be some improvement there. Cooks like a god. Can rob a bank without leaving a trail. Makes grabbing nukes from the military look easy. Good conversationalist. Too bad he's not really into the supervillain thing. Probably going to try and plea bargain with GJ when this is all over with._ She sighed and Ron looked at her curiously.

"You think we can lure this guy into another trap?" she asked.

Ron nodded. "Of course." Sounding very sure of himself.

"Oh?" she asked, wanting him to explain.

"He's very confident. More so than any normal person can be. At least a normal sane person. And he's just survived a nuclear blast so he has reason to be. If we can think of something to lure him with he will come." Ron explained.

They arrived at the base of the tunnel. Ron looked back up the tunnel and stared very hard, trying to see the end of it. He could just make out a tiny point of light indicating the opening more than a kilometer away. "Very straight," he said, slightly amazed. But then he figured, it was a machine that dug it and they would aim for the shortest route.

"Very." Shego agreed with him, looking the same way. "This is a perfect setup."

"Yeah, couldn't ask for better. Mind if I explore the lair a bit. I need a few components before I can set the nukes." He looked at the supervillain hoping she wouldn't mind. A few more items he hadn't thought to bring along would make setting the device a lot easier.

Shego shrugged. "Not like it's going to hurt now. You already know it's location and it's soon going to be less than dust anyway. What you need?"

"Some sensors. Something that can detect the radiation from the thorium reactions in Will's body," he explained.

"Would some geiger counters do the trick?" she asked.

"Would be perfect. Set the sensors around a hundred meters up the tunnel. Run a line down to the nuke. Then fill with water. Actually that's why I wanted to take the cart system Drakken had installed here down rather than the hovercraft. Some of the systems on the hovercraft might have set it off before we wanted to." He grinned at Shego. "That would have been bad for us."

Shego shuddered. "And it's the sort of detail I can see Dr. D forgetting about too."

Setting the trap didn't take long. Setting the fusion device took thirty minutes. Running the line from the geiger counters down to it took ten minutes each. Three lines were run from three of the counters for redundancy. Filling the tunnel took most of the time. While the tunnel was below sea level the sea was a fair distance off and it was ground water that had to be pumped in."

"Wish we had brought some food," Shego muttered as they watched the tunnel fill. Ron agreed with her. In terms of eating it seemed he and Shego were a pretty good match. Ready to eat anything, anywhere, and at any time.

"We will be back at Wade's in less than an hour. Hopefully there will be some food left there," he answered. "Wonder what we can use to lure Will with."

Shego shrugged. "Doubt he will fall for the '_free doomsday devices' _ad again."

00000

Back at Wade's they persuaded the supergenius to order more food and once again neglected to tell him they were supplying him with stolen cash to pay for it. The three of them sat down, munching on more pizza, trying to figure out a way to lure Will to the trap now that it had been set.

"What sort of materials does he have left to get for those doomsday devices of his?" Shego asked.

Wade considered that for a few seconds. "Mostly just stuff like plutonium. I think he's leaving that sort of stuff for last. It's not something we can just blow up so he knows we won't be able to keep it from him."

"You know a place like that lair is the sort of area a government would store something that dangerous," Shego pointed out.

Wade nodded. "But it's not the like he won't have other places he can get it from. And we still need to somehow _'give'_ him the information without him thinking it's a trap. The memo thing won't work again."

"How many nuclear reactors closer to him than the tunnel that uses plutonium?" Ron asked.

"Not many. Actually none that I can think off. Using plutonium in a nuclear reactor isn't wise. It's way more deadly than uranium so it doesn't make sense." Wade looked at the keyboard beneath his hands, itching to access the data he wanted through it. An urge he resisted in case Will was monitoring his activities. He sighed. "If we can get the information to him in a way that doesn't indicate a trap then it would be the closest sure site to him. He might go for it."

Ron shook his head. "The guy just survived a nuclear explosion. He might not care that there's a high risk of it being a trap, just so long as it's not too obvious. It's not like he will be thinking we can hurt him, and in that he's right. We can't hurt him. Just send a memo to the air force to send a few jets to cover the site and to fire on him if he tried to get in. Give them a precise flight pattern - we don't want them to get taken out by the cannon when it fires."

Wade nodded and set to work. A few minutes later he said, "Done."

Once again the three sat back to wait. Shego and Ron were still munching on the food. Ron spared a thought to wonder how Rufus was getting on. The little rodent wasn't often left alone for this long. _Probably playing some online video game and putting all the other players to shame, _he decided recalling Rufus' skill at Everlot. That for some reason made him think of Kim. He sighed and Wade and Shego looked at him. Ron just shrugged. "Hate waiting," he explained, telling a half lie. Though he preferred to think of it as a half truth. Putting it that way made it sound better without the word lie being in it he thought.

00000

Willian Jackson studied the information that passed on the screen in front of him, cursing the slow speed at which he was forced to first enter data on the keyboard and then to wait for the response. He sighed. _First phase almost done, _he noted. _Will soon be able to cleanse this continent and then move on to the rest. Just a matter of time._ The data he wanted finally popped up on the screen. _Not too far from here, _he thought. _Luck is going my way._ He took off for the site which his data indicated had enough plutonium for at least a dozen of his doomsday devices.

Two hours later he arrived at the entrance of a tunnel. More than thirty missiles had been fired at him from a variety of jets. The ground around him had been torn up by several bombing runs. He had felt nothing. Still the entrance had been pretty much left undisturbed. _The insects are too afraid to damage the facility, _he concluded and entered it. He ignored the cart system, being able to travel faster without it. He idly took the time to consider if it was a trap or not. _Seventeen percent chance, _he concluded and then ignored the calculation. It wasn't as though they could hurt him. He felt a wild glee at being able to finally do as he had dreamed of for so long. The word, _KILL,_ echoed through his mind in a chant-like manner.

Less than a minute after entering the tunnel he approached the bottom. The sensors detected his arrival and all three worked to perfection, sending the activation signal. Willian Johnson stopped, staring at the water for a fraction of a second. _Flooding the tunnel to try and stop me, _he mused. Then the water turned to plasma, heated by the triggered nuclear explosion. The plasma hit him, doing no damage, however he was flung out of the tunnel at hypersonic speeds. A plume of material was shot kilometers into the air, the tunnel was sealed shut as the blast passed through it.

_Interesting, _thought Willian Jackson as he flew through the atmosphere, igniting it with the heat of his passage. _Not that it matters, I will soon start to fall and when I hit the ground I will just grab the plutonium from another place._ He waited. And he waited. _Something, _he finally noted, _was wrong._

00000

Ron, Wade and Shego studied the satellite telemetry, holding their breath. Wade's fingers flew over the keyboard, accessing data and making calculations. He turned to them and grinned. "The cannon transfered enough kinetic energy to him that he escaped the earth's gravity field. He's now out in space and won't be back anytime soon."

The three burst into cheers. Then Ron sighed. "You know that was the easy part. Now I got to explain to Global Justice just why I robbed two banks, stole several nuclear devices, destroyed one of their jets, been exploding said nuclear devices all over the place, been shoplifting, stealing cars, breaking into houses ..." He paused and looked at Shego. "I miss anything?"

"Aiding and abetting the escape of a known felon, knowingly associating with said felon without turning her in." She added with a grin. Ron groaned. "Oh don't forget vandalizing hospital equipment." Shego smirked as Ron groaned again.

Wade nearly fainted at the list and wondered how many charges he would be stuck with.

00000

At the hospital Monique dropped another chocolate into Kim's mouth. The treats were forbidden but Monique doubted a couple of small chocolates would hurt much. She then went back to drawing more fashion designs on her pad. Kim let the chocolate dissolve in her mouth, lost in a sea of guilt.

**Epilogue**

Willian Johnson waited. As he waited his view of the earth grew smaller. That the insects could do this to him infuriated him. Yet there was no anxiety, no worry, about the end result. He, as their superior, would in the end triumph over them. It was a foregone conclusion. His body could survive the rigors of deep space without the slightest strain so that didn't worry him. There was just the minor concern of how to get back to the world upon which the insects he desired to kill walked. Recalling his knowledge of the solar system he determined that there were no know bodies along his current trajectory. He sighed. _Would have been helpful if there were, _he thought with some disappointment. Yet, he noted, I am traveling in almost a straight line towards that point of light. _Sirius. _he thought recalling the name of the star. He began to work out the calculations in his mind. He studied the rate at which the disk of the earth was getting smaller. _I am traveling at a velocity of twenty-six kilometers per second, _he noted. _Sirius, _he recalled, _is eight point six light years away. _He grinned, not a happy grin, but one where someone finds things are not as bad as they might have been. He twisted his body, letting the pressure of the light from the sun hit him at a certain angle. Over time it would change his trajectory slightly, aiming it more precisely towards the distance star. _In just ninety-nine thousand years I will reach that star, _he continued with the only plan he could think of to return to the earth. _If I use the light from the sun and from Sirius correctly and can successfully sling-shot around the star then I can be back to destroy the insects in a little under two-hundred thousand years._ The time was quite a bit longer than he would have cared to wait for but as an immortal with an indestructible body it was, as his only option, acceptable. He prepared himself for the wait.

Ron settled down to explain the events of the last few days to Wade in their entirety. Wade would have to be to go-between between Shego and him and Global Justice for negotiating any deals. He munched on the second last piece of pizza while Shego took the last piece. Wade looked at though he were going to complain but then remembered who Shego was and decided she could have the last piece. "Hey Shego, is fried rat all that bad?" Ron asked.

Shego shrugged. "Well I've never been able to fry them properly. All I had to cook them with is plasma and I couldn't get all the fur off them. Smell wasn't too great, trust me on that one." She shuddered. "But once you get past the fur and the skin they're not too bad. Of course without any plasma you will have to eat them raw.

Ron groaned. "Oh great." He looked at Wade. "Wade, you had better be a good negotiator, I do not want to eat raw rat in prison."

"Don't worry Ron, Global Justice will be so glad to be rid of Willian Johnson they will forgive just about anything. At least I hope so since I'm in the frying here with you," Wade answered.

Wade was right. Dr. Director was so glad to be rid of the indestructible menace, and to know who had been setting off those nuclear explosion along with why, that she was eager to forgive them all their sins. Just so long as the last nuclear device was returned unused. There was the matter of repaying the banks but she decided that Global Justice could handle that. It was much cheaper than repairing all the damage Willian Johnson would have done. Even Shego would be allowed to go back to her vigil by the side of Drakken. Negotiations done, Ron and Shego left Wade to his own devices.

Ron, now looking like Ron, watched Shego as she walked beside him. "Go on, I know what you want to ask about," he said, grinning.

"You didn't turn over the hovercraft or the leftover cash?" she said. Ron had noticed the way she had been looking at him during the negotiations and knew she had been waiting for him to mention those two things to Wade. She had been perplexed when he didn't.

"Always wanted a hovercraft of my own," he answered. "You can have the three million in cash as a down payment on that lair you owe Drakken for."

"That's hardly fair. The hovercraft is worth forty-five million, yet I'm getting just a measly three million," she answered back.

"Come now Shego, I would think three million would be a nice bonus for a few days work," Ron answered back grinning.

"Hrumph," Shego muttered.

Ron continued, "Besides if Global Justice found out I let you have a hovercraft I would be in hot water again. Those things can be used for a lot of nefarious activities."

Shego admitted he had a point there. The Buffoon, she figured, had no incentive to place himself at odds with Global Justice just for her sake. "So what are you going to use a hovercraft for?" she asked.

Ron shrugged. "Well part of the reason I didn't mention it is if the negotiations fell through then I wanted something I could run in. But now it just seems like a cool thing to have. Besides won't need to beg favors from people for rides anymore."

"Meaning it will be easier for you and Kim to foil me and Drakken," Shego grinned.

"True." Ron agreed with her. "But knowing my luck it will get blown up the first time we try that."

Shego had to laugh at that. _He's probably right there, _she admitted to herself.

Ron sighed and Shego turned to look at him. 'What's wrong?" she asked.

Ron shrugged. "I kind of liked the last few days. Overwhelming odds to take down a supervillain. _It's simple!_" He emphasized the word simple. "You got a villain, you do whatever you need to stop them. Simple. Now I got to go back to the hospital and it's so complicated. In a twisted sort of way I almost wish another villain would pop up and we would be forced to handle him."

Shego felt empathy for the Buffoon but she couldn't tell him that. "You really think I would team up with you again to take down another supervillain?" Her tone dripped with sarcasm.

"If the villain was targeting Middleton and putting Drakken at risk I'm sure you would." He ignored her sarcasm.

"Maybe," she admitted. "But this time I wouldn't be bought off with a mere three million when you get a forty-five million dollar hovercraft."

Ron nodded. "That is a bit unfair."

The two parted ways. Shego headed to Drakken's room where there were now ten guards outside the door and ten inside. The doctors had complained it wasn't conductive to the well-being of the patients but Global Justice had ignored them. Ron headed to Kim's room.

Ron hesitated before he entered the room, taking the time for a deep breath. As he walked in he saw Monique sitting beside Kim. "Hi Monique," he said, appreciating that she had stayed with Kim. "Any word yet on when her mother and father will be back?"

Monique looked up from her sketching pad, startled, yet glad to see the blonde haired boy. "No word yet. The storm is still messing up any flights in and out of Houston. The surgery Kim's mom did was pretty serious and she's going to be there for at least another week. Where have you been?" He voice took on an accusing tone.

"Had a supervillain to take care of." Ron answered.

Kim, feigning sleep, felt her heart skip a beat. Ron, her Ron, out handling a villain by himself! She would have went into full fledged panic mode if not for the fact he was now here safe and sound. She had no doubt which villain he had been talking about.

"Oh? How did it go?" Monique asked.

Ron shrugged. "Okay I guess. Hit him with two nukes. He shrugged it off so we shot him out into space. He won't be back for a while."

Monique looked at him as thought he were crazy. Then she sighed. No weirder than a lot of their missions she decided.

Ron, sat in the chair he had left just a few days ago and looked at Kim. His heart breaking. She was, he knew faking sleep. For someone who knew her as well as he did it was obvious. "How has Kim been doing?" he asked.

"Okay," Monique answered. "She's doing fine physically. Doctors finally decided that none of her arteries or her heart was damaged. Just a bit of muscle damage to heal over. She will be out in a week and in a month she will be as good as new."

"Physically? What about not physically?" Ron inquired, knowing Kim was listening in. If she wanted to listen in then that was fine with him.

Monique shrugged. "Not so well there. She just sleeps and mopes."

Ron sighed. "Yeah. If she weren't hurt I bet there would be a hundred demolished punching bags headed towards a landfill right now. She doesn't taking feeling down too well when she can't beat stuff up. A month healing up is going to be hell for her."

Ron reached out and stroked Kim's cheek. "Oh hell," he muttered, sitting back in his chair. Monique saw the anguish on his face and sighed.

"You're still pretty upset huh?" she asked.

Ron nodded. "Stupid prom. Wish it had never happened."

"At least you two are still friends," Monique stated.

"Not really," Ron answered. "I've been just trying to avoid her. Haven't seen the twins, or exchanged any recipes with MrsDr P, in ages. Been months since I was to her house. Told her we would still be friends but I haven't really been trying."

"Not many would even try that much," Monique admitted.

"Yeah, but thirteen years! So many memories. So many life and death situations where we needed absolute trust in each other just to survive. Can't throw all that away, yet also can't get past... the you know what."

Monique nodded. She noticed the corner of Kim's eyes were damp and wondered if the girl was actually asleep. "So you just keep going like you have? Friends, but not really friends?" she asked.

Ron shook his head. "Nay. I said we would still be friends, so from now on that's what I will try to be. For good or bad. If I can't take it then in several months we will be graduating and parting ways. We will see what happens in that time." Thinking about what Shego had told him he added, "I got a lot to talk to her mother about. Some things to discuss."

"Oh?" Monique was curious.

"Sort of found out why Shego went bad." At Monique's expression he added, "Don't ask. She would fry both of us if I told you. But some of it might apply to Kim." He shrugged. "Might. Not that it would excuse anything but it might help her in the future if that is the case. Just like with Shego and her contracts."

Ron reached out and tapped Kim on the forehead. "You know you can stop pretending to sleep. You're not fooling anyone." _First step in restoring a friendship, _Ron thought, _is we stop ignoring each other._

**The End**

_Notes:_

Not sure how ooc Kim, Ron, and Shego are.

Ron is, in the later episodes, often competent and is shown as being a capable fighter at times. Also the Attitudinator only exchanges good and evil, it does not give any skills or powers that the original individual didn't have. So Ron technically should have access to Zorpox's abilities. Why he doesn't uses them is another question. I don't believe he is too far out of character. Also he has undergone a major shock too by the betrayal which would explain some of the changes. Zorpox would be closer to the surface so to speak. (That is a partial reason for 'trashing' Kim so to speak. To see what changes it might provoke in him as he moves out from beneath her shadow.)

Kim is a highly moral person, usually. Though she does have many many flaws. When a moral person does something wrong they will experience guilt and shame. The greater the morality and the greater the wrong then the greater the shame and guilt. This guilt can be crippling. I could see her behaving in such a way after betraying a friendship of thirteen years. For her to not express such guilt would be out of character. This guilt in the story isn't meant to be incapacitating. She is just moping around while recovering from her physical injuries.

Shego is the one who probably the most out of character. Not sarcastic enough for one. Yet I could see her getting along well with Ron as they both share so many characteristics. There are instances in the series where we do see her getting along well with him(times when she isn't attitudenated).

Just to be clear, the enhanced William Johnson has thought processes that operate hundreds of time faster than normal. That is not the same as being hundreds of time as intelligent as normal. Since I would hate to use a real person's name as a villain in such a matter the name was chosen by taking at random one of the ten most common first names and then one of the ten most common last names. Which on second thought probably wasn't a good idea since it means a lot of people will have that name. Should have used a least common list probably.


End file.
